CHAPTER 7
Epicurus and Epictetus:
Pleasure and Apathy
Epicurus (342-270 B.C.)
Epicurus was bom of Athenian parents on the island of Samos
in the Aegean Sea. He was educated on the island and remained
there until after the death of Alexander the Great, when the
Athenians were driven out of Samos. Epicurus then moved to the
island of Lesbos off the coast of Asia Minor and established
himself as a teacher. With the growth of his school, Epicurus
moved in about 306 B.C. to Athens, where he purchased some
property (a part of which became the famed “Garden of Epicurus”)
and established a society of men and women who became his
friends and disciples.
His school was very popular, particularly after the death of
Alexander, since it provided a source of relief from the social
disorganization of the time. With the decline of the city state and
the security and loyalty it fostered, people began to turn inward
to a more personal view of the world. Epicurian philosophy
associated good with pleasure and evil with pain; its goal was not
to attain the greatest pleasure, but rather to maximize equilib
rium or absence of pain. Epicurus personally lived a very simple
life, was frugal with material goods, and generous to a fault with
his friendship and concern for others. It is ironic that the word
“epicurian” today is often used in conjunction with the word
“delights” and conjures a vision of gourmet food, fast living with
the “beautiful people,” champagne, and shallow cocktail-party
talk.
He was a prolific writer, but little of what he wrote survives.
Most of what we know of his philosophy comes from his
disciples. The Roman, Lucretius, wrote On the Nature o f Things,
from which we leam most of the doctrines that Epicurus taught.
Epicurus died after a painful illness in Athens in 270 B.C. His
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